Children of the Corn 1984

In the quaint yet foreboding town of Gatlin, Nebraska, where the rich soil yields a bounty of corn, Job’s narrative unwinds to reveal how this agrarian community became a haven for a coterie of young zealots. As the once-thriving crop withers and dies, the townsfolk turn to prayer in a desperate bid to coax forth a bountiful harvest. It is then that Isaac Chroner (John Franklin), a mysterious boy preacher with an unsettling aura, arrives on the scene, drawing all the children of Gatlin into his fold like moths to a flame. His lieutenant, Malachai (Courtney Gains), leads this ragtag group in a bloody revolution, slaughtering every adult in their midst. Over the ensuing years, the children take it upon themselves to hunt down and sacrifice any adults who dare to venture into their domain.

Three years later, Burt (Peter Horton) and his girlfriend Vicky (Linda Hamilton) find themselves traversing the open road, bound for Seattle, Washington, where Burt is set to assume a new role as a physician. Their journey takes an ominous turn when they strike a small boy lying motionless on the highway – one of Gatlin’s own children who had attempted to escape the cult’s iron grip. Despite their better judgment, they stash his lifeless body in the trunk and continue on their way. Their path crosses that of a worn-down mechanic, whose knowledge proves as fleeting as his trustworthiness, for he has been co-opted by the children to guide unsuspecting adults into their clutches. As Burt and Vicky struggle to find their bearings, they finally stumble upon Gatlin, only to be met with a desperate bid to escape the town’s deadly grasp.

A frenzied chase ensues as the couple navigates the treacherous landscape, pursued by the cult’s fanatical followers and the vengeful “He Who Walks Behind The Rows”. In their flight, Burt and Vicky stumble upon Job (actor not specified) and his sister Sarah, who reject the cult’s twisted ideology. Though Vicky falls prey to Malachai’s cunning, Burt manages to evade capture, only to have his world turned upside down when he and the children converge in a brutal showdown that will determine the fate of those who dare to defy the town’s dark and foreboding forces.

As Isaac’s haughty demeanor wore thin on Malachai and his cohorts, they seized control of the children and demanded a gruesome sacrifice in Vicky’s stead. With the sun dipping below the horizon, Burt ventured into the treacherous cornfield to rescue his beloved Vicky. The eerie atmosphere was soon pierced by the sound of Isaac’s screams as He Who Walks Behind The Rows devoured him whole. Burt arrived just in time to engage Malachai in a fierce battle, convincing the brainwashed children that they had been duped into worshiping a false deity and sacrificed their humanity in the process. As Malachai struggled to regain control over his followers, Isaac’s reanimated corpse - seemingly possessed by He Who Walks Behind The Rows - emerged from the darkness and put an end to Malachai’s reign of terror with a brutal neck snap.

As the storm clouds gathered ominously above, Burt and Vicky hastened to gather the children within the safety of a rustic barn. Job produced a sacred text that revealed the terrible truth: He Who Walks Behind The Rows was, in fact, a malevolent demon. As the tempest raged on outside, Burt prepared the irrigation pumps with gasohol fuel, anticipating a confrontation with the vengeful entity. With calculated precision, He Who Walks Behind The Rows launched a vicious assault on Burt, but our hero was ready to strike back. By dousing the demon’s domain with flammable liquid and igniting a Molotov cocktail, Burt managed to set the cornfield ablaze and seemingly banish the evil spirit.

In the aftermath of the conflagration, Burt, Vicky, Job, and Sarah emerged as the sole survivors, able to escape the ruins of Gatlin as the charred remains of the cornfields smoldered behind them. As Burt grasped the map that had led them to this forsaken place, a fanatical cultist leapt from the shadows, brandishing a knife. Vicky swiftly dispatched her with the passenger door, and the foursome walked off into the unknown, their fate hanging precariously in the balance.